toro220

i am new to turkey hunting. been doing it about a week. the other day a friend and i were calling in two birds on a pipeline, neither of us had binoculars to look at the birds when they first came in sight and we couldnt tell what they were. as they topped the hill we sat up on, i did see one of the birds heads and it was red and blue. my buddy said both of them were toms, but i heard one of them clucking...i never heard anyone say before if a tom will cluck..just wondering if my buddy was crazy

jhalfhill

what you heard was probably a "put", which is a distress call. they probably saw something they didnt like and were alerting each other. gobblers rarely make any noises other than gobbles while strutting around in the spring, however when fighting they "purr" very rapidly. in the fall, they make alot of the same noises hens make only deeper and raspier. i even hear jakes alot "yelping" in the spring like the hens do when accompanied by the dominant bird. i used to raise wild turkey in a pen and gobblers make a variety of noises that most hunters dont even know about. mine made one noise consistently that i couldnt even tell you what it sounds like but when i do it in the wild look out cause you have one pissed off tom.

EDIT - actually the sound my gobbler made was sort of like a pigeon "coo" in a turkeys voice, that as best as i cn describe it. but he did it while wild birds visited the pen and boy did it piss them off

jepcho

Yeah toms will cluck. They even yelp, purr, putt, pretty much everything a hen can do. A tom yelp is lower pitched. They dont yelp as often in the spring as they do in the fall but it happens. They also spit and drum which you can only hear when the birds are pretty close. Hope this helped and let us know if you have any other questions.

quiksilver

Jepcho's right, Toms will say just about anything.

I've even read that in states that have turkey seasons that extend well beyond the spring breeding season, (PA ends sometime in June) it is more beneficial to try to emulate the male birds to call in the big gobbler b/c they are finished breeding and respond to other males well, as they are flocking together again.

I'd like to find some online audio clips of Tom yelps so I could work on that call before season. Anybody know where I can hear it??

I've heard them do it in the wild, and I remember it being a very distinct, very ragged, low and raspy sound, but I'd like to hear it some more to refresh my memory.

jepcho

Yeah quiksilver, I have also heard that in later seasons it is better to try to sound like a tom. I usually just use a gobble call but I dont have one anymore.(My little brother got a hold of it) I called some in during the fall with a raspy mouth call. I just tried to yelp with a lower pitch than if I was trying to be a hen.

Buckeye Mike

My favorite sound is still that sizzle they make in the frying pan!